Land of the Lost
by shabs
Summary: This is kind of like a sequal to the book The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. Well not so much a sequal, its more of just another short story to add on at the end of the book. Hope you like it :


Land of the Lost

On Mars the Earth men settlements that could be found were alone and desolate. Buildings crumpled to the ground and dust covered the sidewalks where families and lovers once walked. Not a sound could be heard, not a creature to be found. Once and a while a lone Martian would appear in an abandoned Earth town. He would slowly walk through every house, every store as if searching for a long lost love or a clouded memory. He looked like any other upstanding Martian. He had brown, leathery skin that wrapped around his body like a cloth. He was skinny and frail looking but his eyes were a deep gold and they had a shine to them that implied knowledge beyond his years. This Martian was not like all the others though. His name was Mm-kt and unlike his many counter parts he seemed to be drawn to the Earth settlement. The other Martians spoke of these places with apprehension and disdain. They said that the Earth men came to their world without permission and took the land as their own. Eventually the Earth men disappeared. Claimed by the very land they tried to conquer. They called these forgotten settlements _the land of the lost. _Mm-kt was first drawn to these mysterious towns when his family passed one by on their way to the annual Festival of the Beginning. Immediately after seeing the abandoned town Mm-kt wanted to explore it. He felt as though deep beneath the decaying shops and crumbling statues a secret was hidden. One that he believed could change the way he saw the world, but for the better or worse he was unsure. Finally he was able to convince his parents to stop and explore the town. As Mm-kt stepped off his fire bird and onto the brittle dry ground he couldn't help but stare. Every house seemed to look the same. They all had a yard with a gate and a walkway leading to the front door. Mm-kt could even picture that in the past they might have even been the same color. Unlike the ancient Martian cities the human houses were made out of wood and they didn't move with the rising of the sun like his home did. Mm-kt was intrigued. Who were these people that lived in these homes years before? What were the families like? Slowly Mm-kt and his parents made their way down the main road. The procession stopped when they came to an old house. This one didn't seem as decrepit as the others, so after much begging on Mm-kts part his parents begrudgingly let him explore. As he opened the front door a loud screeching sound was made and dust fell on their heads, burning their eyes and making their throats tighten up in pain. The inside of the house was intact though dirty. The room they walked into had a bookshelf in one corner and a few chairs to sit on. Mm-kt could just picture a human family here. The father sitting in one of the chairs reading a book, the mother running about the room cleaning as the children played with each other on the ground. It was a pleasant picture. Mm-kt walked into the room trying to find the secrets he so desperately craved. When he walked over to the bookshelf his hand brushed the side of the chair. Suddenly Mm-kt fell to the ground. He could hear his mother shout his name but then his senses shut down. He was plagued by a series of visions. A human man building a house, a mother caring for a child, children playing with one another in the street, a family singing songs while decorating a tree, an image of the Earth slowly turning black, and finally, Mm-kt saw an image of a human family, their features changing until a group of Martians was standing in their place. The visions subsided and Mm-kt was once again in the old Earth home, his parents staring at him in fear. While Mm-kt was having these visions his parents saw something inside of him change. They saw the one thing in him that they feared the most; humanity. He was no longer their son. So they left. They left Mm-kt in that old abandoned town with nothing but the dust as a companion. The day his parents left him he found the secrets he was looking for. The Earth men came to Mars to escape their world, which was tearing itself apart. Once they settled they decided they would shake off the burden of their past. They became Martians and in the process they forgot their humanity. Everything was false. They weren't pure Martians. They were just cheap copies, humans that became so fearful of themselves they transformed into another species. Even the Festival of the Beginning which was the day that marked the creation of the first Martian was a lie. It was not the day of creation, like so many believed but the day humanity decided to end themselves and become Martians instead. Now Mm-kt walked the lone streets of the Earth settlements, looking for anyone or anything that could make him forget his loneliness. Mm-kt tried to go back to his simple life as a Martian but he always felt different and being a touch telepath he knew that other Martians didn't like him. They saw that he was different. So after going from city to city he finally decided that the only place he truly fit in was the abandoned Earth settlements. Often enough Mm-kt found himself looking into the night sky searching for the planet Earth. He wondered if there were any people there. He wished that there were. On nights where he felt the loneliness creep into his skin and make his body shiver with sadness, he would imagine a family on earth looking into the sky just as he does and he would have them wonder if there were any people on Mars. He could almost hear himself answer their call. "Yes there are but they live a life of denial. One that is so strong they would never question their way of life even if it was proven to be a lie." One day as he was walking through another abandoned town he heard a phone ring. "My God a phone ringing in an Earth town!" thought Mm-kt. It had to be a message from Earth for no Martian would ever call an Earth settlement. But where, where is it? There were so many houses in the town and it was nearly impossible to tell which one it was coming from. The ringing continued throughout the streets, its sound bouncing off the houses and monuments. Finally Mm-kt traced it to a clothing store. He dashed to the phone but just as he was about to pick it up the ringing stopped. Once again a thick layer of silence fell upon the settlement. Mm-kt cursed himself for being so slow. His one chance at company, one chance at happiness was lost. Suddenly a thought crossed his mind. If this Earthman was trying to reach his comrades on Mars then he would most likely call more than one settlement. This brought some hope to Mm-kt tortured heart. So once again he continued his journey through each and every Earth settlement. Once and a while he would hear a phone ring but every time he was too slow to answer it. As time went on Mm-kt started to imagine what Earthman was trying to call Mars. He pictured a family with a father mother daughter and son. He saw them as a happy Family. The father kind and stern while the mother was humble and caring. The children were kind and polite. He desperately hoped that when he answered the phone he would hear their voices asking if they could come live with him. Mm-kt would like that very much. One day as he was strolling through a rather small settlement he heard a phone ring. Quickly Mm-kt traced the sound to what he believed was the town hall. Finally he would be able to hear someone, talk to them. His loneliness would vanish taking his sadness with it. Mm-kt reached the phone and pulled it to his mouth. "Hello? Hello is anyone there?" For a moment there was just static but then a voice came through. "This is a prerecorded satellite transmission from the president of the United States of America. To all Mars settlements, the USA has been destroyed. The war is over. Earth… is dead…"


End file.
